China bans fundraising through ICOs China has banned and made illegal the practice of raising funds through digital token based initial coin offerings (ICO). The rise of cryptocurrencies has led to $2.2 billion having been raised through ICOs this year alone. Chinese regulators have described initial coin offerings as “a form of unapproved illegal public financing” [...]

China Unicom to Raise $11.7 Billion from Private Firms China Unicom is said to be raising $11.7 billion from investors including the likes of Tencent and Alibaba. China Unicom will be the first of the state-run telecom entities to receive private capital and mixed ownership. China Mobile is still the world's largest mobile phone operator in [...]

Philippines Government Announces Support for Esports The Philippines' Games and Amusement Board has officially begun to recognize esports and competitive computer/video gaming as a professional activity. The GAB has licensed several Filipino Dota 2 players to travel to the USA for the International - previously, they would sign on with Chinese teams. However, there may also [...]

Tencent’s PC Games Revenue is Larger than Reports Reflect According to Tencent’s Q1 2017 financial release dated 17 May 2017, total online games revenue in the first quarter was 22,800 million RMB ($3,360 million). That’s $3 billion in one quarter alone, just from online games! The financial report says that PC client-based games revenue was 14,100 [...]

ChinaJoy 2017 Niko Partners will be attending ChinaJoy 2017 next week and giving two presentations - one on the global state of video games and one on esports in China. If you would like to schedule a meeting with us, please contact Lisa via email or WeChat (id: lisacosmashanson) Read about it China Censors Whatsapp Users [...]

Tencent has launched its biggest esports competition for Honor of Kings in 2017, the King Pro League. The 2017 season follows in the footsteps of the 2016 season which was watched by more than 70 million people. Tencent is aiming to build a better esports ecosystem allowing for more teams, more players, increased marketing, celebrity hosts [...]

2022 Asian Games Adds Esports Esports will now be an official medal sport in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The Olympic Council of Asia has also been working with Alisports to include esports in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkemnistan and in the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia next year, but [...]

Kabam to Sell Assets to South Korea's Netmarble Kabam is selling a majority of their assets to Netmarble in Q1 2017. The most notable asset is Kabam's Vancouver studio, which according to Gamesindustry.biz, "has proven its worth with the popular Marvel Contest of Champions game, which has grossed over $450 million since launching in December 2014, [...]

Pokemon Go in Southeast Asia While Pokemon Go's popularity has subsided in parts of the western world, the game is still a hit in Southeast Asia and brands are continuing to embrace the augmented reality game. Companies throughout Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore and beyond have signed licensing agreements with Nintendo. China's Newest Online Gaming Regulations - [...]

New MOC Rule for Virtual Currencies The latest regulation to apply to virtual game currencies in video games has been released under the MOC, even though the SAPPRFT released a similar regulation on July 1st. Either way, the rule will be implemented on May 1st, 2017 so operators have six months to adjust. The ruling states [...]